Internet access a "human right"
Wednesday, 06 Jun 2007 08:01
18 million workers could not do jobs without internet
Internet access is now reportedly held in as high a regard as freedom of speech, fair trials and equal opportunities.
New research says that almost half of people believe the internet has influenced existence to such a degree that the world would not be the same without it.
"Internet access is now such an important part of life that we regard it as a modern civil liberty, according to seven in ten of those polled," said a spokesperson for mobile giant Vodafone, which conducted today's survey.
"So essential is the freedom to surf the world wide web for our jobs and social lives that one in three people say they would be prepared to give up other human rights in order to stay online."
One in ten women said they would rather surrender the right to vote than internet access, while 7.6 million workers, including one fifth in the former industrial heartlands in the north-east, said the internet is more important to them than industrial action.
Almost 18 million employees told Vodafone they could not do their current jobs effectively without access to the internet.
In addition, the majority of 16- to 24-year-olds quizzed said that as well as their work lives, their personal relationships would suffer as a result of having internet access denied them.